Wire bound book



Aug. 11, 1936. F 5 sc 2,050,545

WIRE BOUND BOOK Filed Jan. 50, 1955 I? Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR ATTORNEYS Aug. 11, 1936. s sc D 2,050,545

WIRE BOUND BOOK Filed Jan. 30, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR flA/v/r 5 74/1/45) dos 495 ATTORNEYS Patented Aug. 11, 1936 TED STATES ATENT @FFFEQE National Blank Book Company, Holyoke,

Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Application January 30, 1935, Serial No. 4,109

1 Claim.

This invention relates to improvements in book or paper pad construction of the type in which a coiled wire is loosely threaded through spaced holes in the binding margin of the paper.

In the prior art type, a single helically coiled wire passes like a screw through all the holes of all the sheets in a pad. I have made up relatively thin and thick pads of this type. I have noticed that as the pad thickness is increased it has been necessary to increase the diameter of the wire coils to an objectionable extent. For example, an ordinary pad one-quarter of an inch thick can be bound with a single coiled wire binder of threc-eighths inch coil diameter. This proportion makes up a good looking pad and the same coil diameter will do for pads of less thickness and they will still look well. The difiiculty comes when one wants to make up a substantially thicker pad, for example one three-quarters of an inch thick. The coil diameter necessary for such a pad is all out of proportion in appearance and the coiled binding means or wire does not work as well with respect to turning over the sheets. These are the objections to the particular type of prior art construction in thick pad form, namely, the poor appearance and decreased efficiency of the construction.

According to my invention I can use the advantages of the good appearance and efiicient working of the prior art construction in relatively thick pads. I accomplish this result by a new combination of parts arranged with my particular purpose in mind. In addition to my primary purpose of improvement I have found that with the new arrangement I can accomplish other advantages, all of which will be disclosed, in connection with the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 is a top plan and Fig. 2 is a side view of a paper pad complete in itself, having the proportions of the prior art constructions, and which I use as an element in combining parts to make a thick pad;

Fig. 2-A is a detail view at one end of the binder Wire construction;

Fig. 3 is a side view of a thick pad made of three superposed pads such as shown in Fig. 2, with the binding coils nested but before they are fastened together;

Fig. 4 is a detail view to show the three binding coils in fastened relation without the paper sheets;

Fig. 5 is an edge view of a book with covers and back panel showing the thick pad bound in book form;

Fig. 6 is a detail showing a convenient way to bind the thick pad in the book binding;

Fig. 7 is a detail View of the book of Fig. 5 opened fiat at the middle of the book; and

Fig. 8 is a detail end View of the book of Fig. 5 5 opened at the middle.

Referring to Fig. 1, a way to practice my invention is to make up three units each one as shown in this figure. The wire coils 2 are threaded through the binding holes 3 in the paper sheets 10 4. Such holes are spaced the pitch distance of the wire coils. When the holes are engaged the paper is bound and the sheets will turn over easily on the coiled Wire. A good proportion is about three-eighths inch diameter for the coils, and 15 about one-quarter inch or less of pad paper for a single binding Wire. Each end of the wire is preferably curled into a small loop 5 and such loop is twisted so as to lie substantially entirely within the cylindrical shell defined by the inner 20 and outer boundaries of the coils, see Figs. 2, 2-A, and 3. This puts the wire terminals or stoppedoff ends 5 out of the way and gives a particularly good and finished appearance to the binding wires. It is this arrangement that is preferred and has real advantages, but other known means may be used to finish off the ends of the binding W1re.

Fig. 3 shows three such pad units piled together to make one thick pad. In piled form the adja- 30 cent coiled binding wires 2 nest together and the coils partially overlap through small arcs. Such arcs of the coils together form a means in the form of spaced eyes 6 through each of which I loosely pass a straight wire or rod l, pref- 35 erably of about the same size metal wire as the coil wire. This straight wire 'i has both its ends turned back as at 8, Fig. 4, to hook over one adjacent cylindrical coil form. This is preferably done rather loosely so the straight wires will serve 40 as a loose jointed fastening means for adjacent coil forms of binding wire.

It will be apparent that the adjacent superposed units of the thick pad, as in Fig. 5, are now fastened together into one thick pad, and such 45 assembled pad may or may not be used with covers or a binding case. The sheets l of each unit may turn over on the coiled wire 2 which binds that unit with substantially the same freedom as if the sheets were in a much smaller pad. 50 The difference is that the sheets cannot turn over the same number of degrees around the coils, due to the increased thickness of the pad, but they can turn over degrees anywhere in the pad and the whole thick pad can be opened up any- 55 where with the sheets on both sides of the binding in perfectly flat form, see Figs. 6, 7, and 8.

When, for example, the thick pad is opened in the middle, the leaves on both sides of the binding may lie out perfectly flat, see Fig. 8. The middle section binding coil 2 is fastened loosely enough to the other coils 2 that the middle coil can rise relatively to the outside coils, as illustrated in Fig. 8. In this opened position the coiled wire binding element shows up between the bound edges of the leaves only to the same extent as in a thin pad, see Fig. 7. The bound edges are thus kept close together, the wire appearing only over a small arc and having the general apappearance of wire stitches.

As is apparent from Figs. 4 and 5, the coils are symmetrical to each other so that when viewed from the top with the book open, the only spring showing is that of the particular pad section in use, the other two springs being masked by the upper arc, as is illustrated in Fig. 6.

This is a real advantage in a thick pad because if the coil diameter of such a thick pad were increased for one wire to bind the whole thickness of the sheets, there would be an entirely different appearance. It would be somewhat like the very large rings of a large loose leaf ring binder with a major arc protruding between the paper sheets and the bound edges of the sheets widely spaced showing a wide gap between them. This is only one of many examples that can be found to show the advantages of my thick pad construction.

I find it of considerable advantage in the extended possibilities of my invention in thick pads, to bind such a pad in a book binding case. This extension is illustrated in a preferred form, shown in Figs. 5, 6, 7, and 8, where the thick pad is combined as the filler of a bound book with covers and back portion and cover hinges; but of course other forms could be used. The form of binding in book binding case form as shown is in some respects like that found in my copending case Serial No. 754,388, filed November 23, 1934.

To practice this feature I find it convenient to bind cardboard or stiff sheets 9, one as the last outside sheet of my top and one as the outside sheet of the bottom of the individually bound units. These stiff sheets 9 are bound in exactly like the loose sheets. When the pad is finished, it is bound in the case, comprising as a unit covers 10, back panel II, and hinges l2, by pasting the adjacent stiff sheets 9 onto the inside faces of the covers ID. This is done so that the inner margins of stiff sheets 9 overhang in the form of suspended flanges (indicated in Fig. 8, but more fully described in said copending case) through the holes of which the adjacent binding coils 2 are threaded. Thus, the whole pad is suspended or hung on these flanges, as seen in Fig. 8, with the outside of the three parallel nested coiled wires 2 directly engaging the flanges of sheets 9, while the intermediate coil is loosely jointed to the outside ones by the nesting arrangement which is retained in the combination by the position of the straight wires 1 threaded in the back. The whole combination makes up into a whole permanently bound book of very good appearance, such as indicated in the drawings.

The manner of stopping ofi each end of the coils 2 with a small loop 5 as a terminal and twisting said loop into the cylindrical surface defined by coils 2 has this advantage, in addition to preventing the unwinding of the coils through holes 3 after they are assembled in pad form. The loops 5 neither protrude into the cylinder form of the coiled wire nor out of the surface of the form. This gives a finished appearance which is important and with the use of the wire material. But it also keeps free the bore of coiled wire and there is no interference with wires 1 which move, as the pad is opened and closed, with respect to said bore of coiled wire. In this case where the relatively thin pad units are assembled into one thick pad form, the bore is with advantage left free for the relative shifting of wires 7. But the particular form of terminal loop 5 also has an advantage in the single unit form of pad with only one binding wire when that is used as for a stenographers pad. By leaving the bore open and free, a pencil can be carried therein. And when the pad is being used, an extra pencil can be put in the bore when the pad is turned front to back and a start is made from the intermediate sheets. This will enable one to turn back to the beginning of the writing as, with the pencil in place within the bore, the used sheets are hung over the pencil in the use.

Having disclosed my invention and the way to put it in practice, I claim:

A book construction comprising a casing having a back portion and top and bottom covers hinged at opposing sides of the back portion, relatively stiff flange portions, secured to each cover and overhanging the back portion, a plurality of groups of sheets of paper and the like constituting the leaves of the book, and a plurality of nested and pivotally connected coiled wire binding elements, one for each group of sheets, each binding element threaded through its particular group of sheets, with the outer coil binding elements also threaded through the flanges of the covers for securing the sheets within the casing, the parts being so constructed and arranged as to permit the binding elements to be disposed in a substantially vertical plane and the outer edges of like sheets of each group to lie substantially flush with each other when the book is in closed position.

FRANK STANLEY SCHADE. 

